The present invention relates to a thermal transfer type electroprinting apparatus which produces copies from original documents by a thermal transfer process using an ink ribbon and a thermal head.
Most of the conventional electroprinting apparatuses have employed a toner. However, a thermal transfer type electroprinting apparatus which employs a thermal head and an ink ribbon has recently been developed. This thermal transfer type electroprinting apparatus is constructed so that a paper sheet is closely contacted by an ink ribbon, with a thermal head having a number of heating elements arranged in a row, beneath that ribbon. The thermal head is driven according to document information and selectively transfers the ink layer of the ink ribbon onto the paper sheet by selectively heating the heating elements according to the document information. According to such a conventional thermal transfer type electroprinting apparatus, a variety of advantages can be provided such that a compact structure and maintenance-free operation can be attained, and reliability improved. In addition, warming-up time can be eliminated, electric power consumption can be substantially reduced as compared with the conventional type, and external information can be applied to the document information, so that this apparatus has been improved for practical use. However, in the conventional apparatus the space inside the apparatus is small due to its small size, and the apparatus has a drawback that when the old ink ribbon is worn, it is difficult to replace it for a new one.